Plassay
| Plassay | ||
|---|---|---|
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente-Maritime | |
| Arrondissement | Saintes | |
| Canton | Saint-Porchaire | |
| Community association | Charente-Arnoult-Cœur de Saintonge | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 49 ′ N , 0 ° 43 ′ W | |
| height | 9-64 m | |
| surface | 16.87 km 2 | |
| Residents | 721 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 43 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 17250 | |
| INSEE code | 17280 | |
 Plassay - townscape with Saint-Blaise church |
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Plassay is a western commune with 721 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Charente-Maritime in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine .
location
Plassay is about 35 meters above sea level. d. M. in the historic cultural landscape of the Saintonge about 13.5 kilometers (driving distance) west of Saintes or 33 kilometers southeast of Rochefort .
Population development
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2016 |
| Residents | 443 | 424 | 379 | 433 | 433 | 486 | 631 | 716 |
In the 19th century the place always had between 600 and 800 inhabitants. The phylloxera crisis and the mechanization of agriculture led to a population decline, which has been stopped in Plassay in recent decades due to the proximity to the large cities of Saintes and Rochefort and the comparatively low rents and land prices.
economy
For centuries, agriculture for the self-sufficiency of the population played the largest role in the economic life of the community. But wine has been grown in the area since Roman times, which has been distilled since early modern times and exported to northern Europe (especially to England ). Sainte-Gemme is one of the Bois ordinaires et communs of the Cognac wine-growing region , but most of the grapes are processed into wine and Pineau des Charentes . The quarrying of limestone, which was even exported on ships to the USA, for example to erect the base of the Statue of Liberty with it, was significant well into the 19th century .
history
The fact that the place has a Romanesque church suggests a long period of settlement.
Attractions
See also: List of Monuments historiques in Plassay
The Romanesque parish church, built entirely from precisely worked stone , is a long but rather unadorned building from the 12th century. Since the west facade collapsed sometime in the 17th or 18th century and - largely unadorned - was renewed in the classicist style of the time, only the blind arcade arches on the outer walls are noteworthy, which are additionally decorated with jagged arches in the area of the choir and apse . The late Gothic south tower was added in the 15th century; there was probably never a crossing tower . The interior of the church has a single nave and is covered with a wooden vault; only the apse dome is vaulted from stone. Some figurative and vegetable capitals have been preserved in the choir area .
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes de la Charente-Maritime. Flohic Editions, Volume 2, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-84234-129-5 , pp. 938-939.
